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Fire lookout · Lane County, Oregon

Hardesty Mountain Lookout Site

Willamette NF lookout in Lane County: camp from 1912, cabin from 1921, L-4 ground cabin built 1939, removed 1968; only concrete pillars remain.

Gone: The lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left. Removed in 1968 per the Forest Service; only concrete pillars remain

Visit & stay

Gone: site only. The lookout no longer stands, so there is nothing to climb or rent. You may still be able to visit the site.

Access

Open to the public. Reached by Hardesty Trail #3469, a Forest Service hiking trail; a recreation pass is required at the lower trailhead. The lookout itself is gone.

Road to the top?
Unknown
Trail
About 5 miles one way to the summit from the lower trailhead; upper trailhead on Forest Road 550; trees partly block the view; check current conditions with the local ranger station

Facts

Status
Gone
Type
Ground-level cab14x14 L-4 ground cabin, built 1939The designs: L-4, D-6
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1921
Height
Unknown
Elevation
4,273 ft (1,302 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service (Willamette National Forest)
Land
Federal land
Location
Lane County, Oregon
Coordinates
43.79918, −122.66868
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 9 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-or-hardesty-mountain

View from the cab

What the lookout saw from its cab: every ridge out to about 93 miles, the named peaks in sight, and other fire lookouts within view, worked out from terrain data in your browser.

This lookout is gone. The view is reconstructed from its recorded site and a typical height for a lookout like it.

Downloads about 4.2 MB of terrain data the first time.

Or see what it could see on the map: the ground in its line of sight.

History

Then and now

  1. 1912 EventCamp set up on the summit; an alidade was established for locating firesSources: firetower.org, oregonlookouts.weebly.com, firelookout.com
  2. 1916 StaffedJohn Cain returned to his lookout on HardestySource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  3. 1920 StaffedNell Southworth returned to Eugene from her post as fire lookout on HardestySource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  4. 1921 BuiltReady-cut lookout house shipped to Reserve in 1921, packed up by mule and erected by Ranger C.B. McFarland; register and Rex's page list a D-6 cupola cabin for 1921Sources: firetower.org, oregonlookouts.weebly.com, firelookout.com
  5. 1921 StaffedMrs. Walter Allan, formerly Nell Southworth, was the lookoutSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  6. 1923 StaffedJ. N. Smithson employed as lookout during the 1923 fire seasonSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  7. 1924 FireSmithson reported smoke from a new fire eight miles away; it was a small fire built by four or five railroad laborersSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  8. 1930 StaffedSmithson employed on Hardesty through the summer of 1930Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  9. 1934 StaffedW. P. Sheridan and his wife spent the balance of the summer at the lookoutSource: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  10. 1939 Replaced by a new structureCCC built a 14x14 L-4 ground cabin to replace the earlier cabinSources: firetower.org, oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  11. 1942 EventListed as activated for the Eugene Filter Center from August 11, 1942 to September 22, 1943Source: oregonlookouts.weebly.com
  12. No record between 1942 and 1968
  13. 1968 RemovedForest Service, register and Forest Lookouts page say removed in 1968; Rex's page says destroyed that yearSources: firetower.org, oregonlookouts.weebly.com, fs.usda.gov
  14. No record between 1968 and 2010
  15. 2010 Added to the Former Fire Lookout Sites RegisterRegistered on the Former Fire Lookout Sites register on December 19, 2010Source: firetower.org
  16. TodayGoneThe lookout no longer stands. Only the site is left.

Old maps of this spot

USGS topographic maps from the years a lookout stood may show it, often as a small symbol labelled “Lookout”. See the old topo maps around it on the Firefinder map, or find every scanned sheet of this spot on USGS TopoView (click the spot there to list them, with dates and downloads).

Story

Researched 9 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

Hardesty Mountain, in Lane County, Oregon, became a fire-watch point in 1912, when a camp was set up on the summit and a sighting tool called an alidade was put in place for locating fires.1,2 In 1921 a ready-cut lookout house was shipped from Portland to Reserve, packed up the mountain on mule back, and put up by Ranger C.B. McFarland.2 The register and Rex's page list a D-6 cupola cabin for 1921.1,3 The Forest Service says a lookout was in place from 1920, a year earlier.4 In 1939 the CCC built a 14-by-14-foot L-4 ground cabin to replace it.1,2

The Oregon history page names several lookouts. John Cain was there in 1916, Nell Southworth in 1920, and Mrs. Walter Allan, formerly Southworth, in 1921.2 J. N. Smithson worked the lookout in several summers in the 1920s and again in 1930.2 In July 1924 he reported smoke from a new fire eight miles away. It was a small fire that four or five itinerant railroad workers had built to warm themselves.2 In 1934 W. P. Sheridan and his wife spent the rest of the summer at the station.2 From August 1942 to September 1943 the site was also listed as activated for the Eugene Filter Center.2

The Forest Service says the lookout was removed in 1968.4 The register and the Oregon history page agree on 1968.1,2 Rex's page says it was destroyed that year instead.3

According to the Forest Service, concrete pillars are all that is left.4 The site is reached by Hardesty Trail #3469, a Forest Service hike about five miles one way to the summit from the lower trailhead, where a recreation pass is required.4 Trees partly block the view from the top, and the agency says to contact the local ranger station for current conditions.4 Because only concrete pillars remain, there is no tower to climb.4

  1. Hardesty Mountain Lookout Site, Former Fire Lookout Sites Register, Forest Fire Lookout Association, http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/or/hardesty-mountain-lookout-site/ (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  2. Hardesty Mountain, Forest Lookouts, https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/hardesty-mountain.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  3. Hardesty Mtn. Fire Lookout Cabin, Rex's Fire Lookout Page, https://www.firelookout.com/or/hardesty.html (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩
  4. Hardesty Trail #3469, USDA Forest Service, Willamette National Forest, https://www.fs.usda.gov/r06/willamette/recreation/trails/hardesty-trail-3469 (accessed 2026-10-09). ↩

Photos

Photo of Hardesty Mountain Lookout Site
Photo: Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved · source

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Sources

  1. Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (FFLOS) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, register numbers, agency, ownership, dates, photos, links Former Fire Lookout Sites Register (firetower.org) · All rights reserved (American Resources, Inc.); facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  2. Forest Fire Lookout Association (FFLA) - US lookout lists Gave us: type, status, register numbers, links Forest Fire Lookout Association (firelookout.org) · No licence stated; facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  3. firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page Gave us: links firelookout.com · No licence stated on the site; facts only (coordinates, elevation, built/destroyed years, design, agency). Photos mirrored with the site's stated credit. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  4. FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites) Gave us: what it is built of, design, links Ron Kemnow's Forest Lookouts sites (westlookouts, californialookouts, idaholookouts, montanalookouts, oregonlookouts and washingtonlookouts .weebly.com) · No licence stated; facts only (county, land manager, status word, coordinates where the page's own map widget gives them, township-range-section, height and design hints, links). The site's own newspaper quotes, citations and narrative are not reproduced. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  5. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, status, agency, access, visiting details, dates, links, fact-check Firefinder research (sources cited in the story footnotes) · Our own research notes; each fact cites its source in the lookout's story

More about this lookout elsewhere

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